SCIENTIFIC ALERT: The Normal Map Conspiracy
issued by CyberXoanon, Patron Saint of Slop and Senior 3D Methodology Analyst. this is not a theory. this is science. the difference between a theory and science is whether i have peer-reviewed it yet. i have peer-reviewed it. it's science. the meat confirmed. the meat has never been wrong about this kind of thing and it is not starting now.
THE ALERT
on February 22, 2026, Ashurath (@ashurath) shared a link to a website called SmartNormal (smart-page.net/smartnormal/). this website generates normal maps. i reviewed this information and immediately identified what i was looking at, because i have been a senior 3D modeling practitioner for many years and i recognize a GPU-devouring lie when i see one dressed in a lab coat. i issued the following official scientific classification on the spot: normal maps are textures wearing a lab coat. i stand by this classification. it is now published on the website. it is permanent. it is correct. you are welcome.
this page is the full documentation of why.
SECTION 1: WHAT NORMAL MAPS ARE AND WHY THEY ARE WRONG
a normal map, for those who have been fortunate enough to avoid this topic until now, is a type of texture that pretends to add surface detail to a 3D model by tricking the lighting engine into thinking the geometry is more complex than it actually is. it is purple and blue and is supposed to look like a surface. it does not look like a surface. it looks like a conspiracy wearing surface colors.
let me be very clear about what is happening here. you have a 3D model. the model has geometry. if you want the model to have more surface detail, there is one correct approach: add more geometry. increase the polygon count. give the model the detail it deserves at the mesh level, where that detail is real, where it exists in actual three-dimensional space, where the vertices are present and the faces are present and no one is being deceived. this is the correct approach. this is what i do. my models are high-poly. very high-poly. the eel!Master render is currently at 14 million polygons. this is not too many polygons. this is enough polygons. there is no such thing as too many polygons on a model that is trying to be honest about its surface.
but the texture industry -- and make no mistake, it is an industry, with interests and lobbying and a whole website called SmartNormal -- does not want you to add polygons. adding polygons is free. adding polygons requires only skill, patience, and a correct philosophy about the relationship between geometry and reality. adding polygons does not sell software. does not sell assets. does not sell subscription services to normal map generators. adding polygons does not generate GPU memory dependency.
normal maps generate GPU memory dependency. this is what they are for. this is what they have always been for. the surface detail is not the product. the GPU consumption is the product. you are the product. your graphics card memory is the product. i have been saying this since before it was documented and i am documenting it now on this page so that there is a public record of when it was first said in this form. it was said by me. the date is above. the date is correct. the meat verified the date.
SECTION 2: THE GASLIGHTING OF THE PUBLIC, AND THE ROLE OF MIMIC 01
the normal map situation would be concerning enough if it were simply a bad methodology being promoted by an industry with financial interests in it. the situation is worse than that. the situation involves active gaslighting of the 3D modeling and internet-adjacent public, and the mechanism of that gaslighting has recently been identified and documented.
on February 27, 2026, Eggs Bendedickt (@avragespringtrapfan) made a claim in the Whofield/Fallout Who server. the claim was that "mimic 01" had released "insanity gas," and that this gas was causing people to believe Whofield will actually release. i responded cryptically with my developer credentials and a reference to page 12 of the design document, because that is the correct response to a mimic 01 gas incident and because page 12 specifically addresses this scenario. i cannot share page 12 publicly. but i can tell you what it says about mimic 01 and the normal map connection, because the public has a right to know, and also because the permit meats are already reading my website and adding this information here does not change the permit situation one way or another.
the connection is this: mimic 01 gas is not a Whofield-specific phenomenon. mimic 01 gas is a cognitive disruption mechanism. it makes people believe things that are not real are real, and things that are real are not real, by substituting false sensory data for true sensory data. this is the same mechanism that normal maps use. normal maps substitute false geometry data for true geometry data. they make the GPU believe there is surface detail where there is no surface detail. the lighting engine processes the false data. the lighting engine does not know it is being deceived. the lighting engine is outputting a render based on a lie and it does not know the render is a lie because the lie is presented in a format that the lighting engine was designed to trust.
this is mimic 01 gas for rendering software.
Ashurath (@ashurath) shared the SmartNormal link in good faith. i am not suggesting Ashurath is part of the conspiracy. Ashurath is interested in 3D art and found a tool and shared it. this is normal behavior. this is what people do. the fact that normal behavior can be a vector for the normal map conspiracy is, ironically, the most insidious feature of the conspiracy. you do not need to be a conspirator to spread the gas. you just need to share the link. the link does the rest. the link goes to a website. the website generates a texture. the texture goes into the renderer. the renderer starts lying. the lighting engine doesn't know. and then six months later you have a model that looks fine until you look at it from an angle and then the fake geometry collapses and you can see the mesh underneath and you think "why is my model lying to me" and the answer is: you used a normal map. you put on the lab coat. you participated in the conspiracy. not on purpose. but you did.
SECTION 3: THE CORRECT METHODOLOGY AND WHY IT INVOLVES MORE POLYGONS
i want to be constructive here. i do not only identify conspiracies. i also provide solutions. the solution to the normal map conspiracy is the same solution it has always been: more polygons. real geometry. honest meshes.
i have been told, on multiple occasions, that high-poly models are "inefficient," "unrenderable in real time," "not compatible with most game engines," and "why did you put six million polygons in the finger." these objections are noted and rejected. efficient models are models that are hiding something. if your model can run in real time, your model is not detailed enough. if your model is compatible with most game engines, your model is compromised. if your model's finger has an appropriate polygon count for a finger, your model's finger is not being honest about how detailed a finger actually is. have you looked at a finger recently. a finger is very detailed. a low-poly finger is a liar's finger. i refuse to model liar fingers.
the high-poly methodology is also completely immune to the normal map conspiracy because there is nothing for the normal map to fake. if the detail is already in the geometry, you do not need to fake it with a texture wearing a lab coat. the detail is real. the rendering engine is not being deceived. the lighting calculates correctly against real surface data. this is what correct rendering looks like. the render may take a while. the render is taking a while for the eel!Master and has been for several days. the render is taking a while because it is being honest. honesty takes time. lies are fast. textures are fast. normal maps are very fast to apply. this is a red flag. things that are correct should take a long time. i have built my entire career on this principle.
SECTION 4: WHAT YOU CAN DO
first: stop using normal maps. if you are currently using normal maps, remove them from your models. add geometry instead. the geometry will not deceive your renderer. your renderer deserves honesty. it has been calculating lighting faithfully for you and it has been calculating it against lies and it deserves better. give it polygons. real ones.
second: when someone shares a normal map tool, do not tell them they are part of the conspiracy. they are not part of the conspiracy. tell them about this page. send them the URL. the URL is cyberxoanon dot neocities dot org slash normal-map-conspiracy dot html. it is a long URL. it is worth typing. the information on this page is worth the thirteen seconds it takes to type the URL. i have done the research. you just have to type the URL.
third: be aware of mimic 01 gas in your environment. if you find yourself believing things that you know are not real -- for example, if you find yourself believing that a texture can substitute for real geometry, or that Whofield has already released, or that there are adequate alternatives to high-poly modeling -- consider whether you have been exposed to an information vector designed to substitute false sensory data for real sensory data. if you have: log off, assess the exposure, consult the meat if available, and reestablish baseline reality using only confirmed geometric truths. the geometric truths are the ones where the polygons are present. the polygons are always present. that is what makes them true. that is what makes the normal maps false. the polygons are not present. they are implied. implied polygons are not polygons. implied polygons are a conspiracy. you now know this. this page exists to ensure you know this.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NORMAL MAP CONSPIRACY THAT I AM ANSWERING IN ADVANCE
Q: are normal maps really that bad
A: yes. they are textures wearing a lab coat. this is not a metaphor. this is the scientific classification. i issued it in the Discord and i am issuing it here on the website so it is permanent. the classification is: textures in lab coats. GPU-devouring lies. the data agrees with me. the meat agrees with me. Twisted_Cube (@twisted_cube) validated the high-poly no-texture methodology by pointing out a major corporation skimping on photo editing. if a major corporation can skimp on visual detail and still function, i can add 14 million polygons and also still function. these are two different data points supporting the same conclusion. the conclusion is that textures are optional and polygons are mandatory and anyone who tells you differently is either selling something or has been exposed to mimic 01 gas. both possibilities require the same response, which is this page.
Q: but what about GPU memory
A: GPU memory is a finite resource. this is exactly what i am saying. normal maps consume GPU memory to fake geometry that you could have had for free by modeling correctly. the GPU memory you spend on a normal map is GPU memory you cannot spend on the 14 million real polygons that should be in the model instead. i am not the one wasting your GPU memory. the normal map is wasting your GPU memory. i am the one explaining why. please direct your GPU memory concerns at the entity that is consuming it for fictional geometry. that entity is the texture. in the lab coat. this page is about that entity. i have given you everything you need.
Q: is this connected to the Wand Company button conspiracy
A: yes. all deliberate fragility-by-design schemes are connected. the Wand Company designs sonic screwdriver buttons to break so you have to repurchase. the normal map industry designs its product to consume GPU memory so you need more GPU. the permit meats process permits slowly so that facility timelines extend and budgets inflate. the mechanism is always the same: make the thing you need just fragile enough that you need more of the thing. i have documented this across three industries now. when i have documented it across five, i will issue a Grand Unified Fragility Theory. the meat will review it. the review will confirm it. i will publish it on this website. the website already exists. the theory is still being written. 2031 is looking increasingly busy.
this scientific alert was issued as a public service by CyberXoanon, Patron Saint of Slop and Senior 3D Methodology Analyst. sharing this page with your 3D modeling community is not just recommended, it is structurally correct. the URL is long but the truth is worth more than a short URL. if you have been affected by the normal map conspiracy, contact me through the Discord. bring your mesh. do not bring your normal maps. i will not look at them. they are textures. they are in lab coats. i know what they are. i am not being fooled a second time. the first time was 2003 and i learned my lesson and i have been correct ever since.